Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Wall-sconce or candleholder, Britannia standard silver, comprising a backplate and two candlebranches; the backplate shaped as a scrolling cartouche, quatrefoil in form with a moulded rim, crowned with a ducal coronet and a lambrequin flanked by a heraldic tiger and a lion, both collared and rampant; the ground matted and ornamented with a band of strapwork, leafage, flowerheads and festoons around a central oval boss engraved with the arms of Herbert impaling another within a scale and foliate scroll cartouche; at the base of the plate a fluted shell through which are bolted two S-scroll candlebranches, each supporting a a circular drip pan and bell-shaped nozzle with moulded band. The bolts, secured by two silver nuts, are arranged vertically and pass through a strengthening tongue on the reverse marked with two dots; suspension clip above.

Although their use is documented in the 15th century, sconces survive only from the 1660s. They were made in large numbers around 1700, but went out of fashion in the 1740s. These scones bear the arms of William Herbert (c.1665-1745), 2nd Marquess of Powis.